1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus and a storage medium storing a program, and specifically to an image forming apparatus that includes a charger for charging a surface of a photoreceptor and that forms an image by using an electrophotographic system and a storage medium storing a program therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus in the related art using an electrophotographic system, a surface of a photoreceptor is charged by a charger, and thereafter the charged surface of the photoreceptor is exposed in accordance with image information, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoreceptor. When foreign matter adheres to the charger, a black stripe is generated in an image, which is a problem, and as a result, a device that cleans soiling of a charger is known.
As an example of the related art, there has been proposed an image forming apparatus that includes a charger cleaner for removing soiling from a charger and a sensor for detecting soiling of the charger and that, in a case where the charger is soiled, removes an adhering material by using the charger cleaner (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2016-9001).
Thus, it is possible to detect and easily remove soiling of the charger.
Moreover, as another technique, a corona discharger that cleans an electrode by using a manual cleaning mechanism including a cleaning member which performs cleaning with the use of a pair of rotatable rollers provided to hold the electrode therebetween from both sides has been proposed (refer to Japanese Patent No. 3259515).
With such a configuration, cleaning is performed in such a manner that the pair of rotatable rollers hold the electrode therebetween from both of the sides, so that it is possible to perform cleaning easily without damaging the cleaning member and without deforming the electrode, which has a needle-like shape.
Though it is possible to easily detect and remove soiling of the charger by using the image forming apparatus of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2016-9001 described above, at the time soiling adheres to the charger, defective charging of a photoreceptor may be caused and a defective image may be generated.
Moreover, the corona discharger of Japanese Patent No. 3259515 is able to easily clean the electrode by using the pair of rollers. However, similarly to the disclosure of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2016-9001, when soiling adheres to the electrode, there is a problem that, since defective charging of a photoreceptor is caused, cleaning is performed after a black stripe is generated in an output image.
The disclosure provides an image forming apparatus that, by prompting cleaning of a charger before a black stripe which results from soiling of the charger is generated in an image, suppresses generation of a defective image, maintains image quality, and reduces the number of support calls regarding malfunction, and a storage medium storing a program therefor.